Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1887-08-11
FREAKS OF THE INSANE.
SOME OF The LUOIcRoUS EXPIRES
SlONS OF THE DEMENTEO.


Unconscious Comicaiity of Crazy JokerS.
Nothing Too Absurd to TO believed by
Lunaiic-InGenuity OF NIononaniacs.
Extravagant Fancy.
Some lunatics even deliberately assume
the role of jokers. They make horrible
puns, ask conundruils and Get of roor
witticisms. But il is their unconscious
comic;ility that makes them most laugh
able; and it's effect Is doubled by the
gravity of mien and tone with which they
utter their whimsical conceits, and which
every lecturer of the humorous species
must envy them. One day. when the
present writer was attending lecture on
mental diseases in an asylum, the pro-
fcSsor brought in n patient suffering from
illusions. G, his Imagination distorted
everything he saw into something differ
cnt. where are you,'i the professor
asked the patient. I'm mcnagerie, ~
was the answer. "And what are these
beings." the professor asked, pointing TO
the students. The answer was consistent:
Lions and tigers and bears" When tho
students laughed aloud Mt this unexpected
geological diagnosis, the patient insisted
that the animals were now roaring"
Frequently patients consider themselves
partially or entirely transformed into ani-
mails or superior beings. Ono woman
mentioned by Kraft Ebing insisted that
her feet had been changed into hoofs and
her head into an oN's head. \ young man
became convinced IN the course Of his dis
ease that he was the devil so he refused
10 take food in order TO starve the fiend
An Austrian patient insisted that he had
lost his eyes, and wanted To 30 TO London
IN mt ,,fv- "A,
his will he refused 10 eat anything on the
ground that Bismarck had poisoned his
food and that million gods had warned
him against it.
NOTHING Is TOO ABSURD.
II often happens, rs in dreams, that in
animate objects appear to- the patient TO
be alive. n tower opposite an aged luna
tics window was taken by him for the
world soul" One day he saw the tower
move away, and voice came from il
which cursed him for having destroyed
the world! Nothing is too absurd 20 bc
believed by the demented. One patient
having maltreated another, was taken TO
task and questioned as to his motive He
finally confessed that the other man
wanted tn come into my ward to build n
chimney six miles high, and pushed MN
down stairs" I'm one case that was I'M
der my charge, " says DIR. Hammond 1.-The
patient, a stationer, doing business in this
city, had the delusion that unknown enc
mies-Frcemnsons-w acting on him
by electricity, which they sent into his
brain, through the top of his head, by
powerful batteries which they had in their
lodge rooms. In another n woman
conceived that all the iron ratings and
railway tracks had been charged with
electricity in order to injure her"
Il II.
Inaniacs in trying to justify their ludicrous
beliefs. DIR. Hammond knew n man who
believed that his right hand was made of
glass, and who therefore carried IL in
stout case, TO prevent its being broken.
When the doctor tried to convince him
that his hand was flesh and blood, aud not
glass, he retorted: II once thought inst as
you do. My brain was then incapable OF
approaching minute differences as well as
1T can now; and, though i confess that my
senses still convey 10 me the idea that my
hand is like other peoples, yet know
that the conception is erroneous, and COR
rect it Mt once 10y my reason. Ny hand
looks like flesh and blood, but it's glass
for all that. Nothing is more calculated
10 deceive than the Senses
ExCDERANcE OF FANCY.
Among Professor Kraft Ebing's pa
tients was one who felt badly used because
they would not give him n needle and
thread 10 sew on his head, which he main
tanned had been severed from his body
with fine cord by n negro. The same
man considered himself great magician,
and told OF his adventures in quest of tho
north pole, which he found by going down
into Nesuvius. \ woman in the same
hospital, previous to her admission, had
purchased n half finished umbrella, say
ing that she was going to cline it with the
new religion which reminds one of the
late Emil Scarln, Of Vienna, the famous
basso, who, short time before his malady
was discovered, went To tailor and
ordered fur ovcrcoat for summer use,
adding that il must be lined with electric
light
With sun, moon and stars, lunntics are
on very familiar terms. One patient henrd
II noise which she maintained was caused
by the rolling about Of the real terrestrial
globe under her bed. Another declared
that she fell from the moon twenty-four
years ago. There she loved the red king
81 France, who was shot on the moon.
The director Of the asylum lived opposite
her on the moon But the most evtraordi-
nary exubcrance Of fancy was shown by
a dementcd officer who considered himself
the ruler of the world. lie also
claimed TO be the greatest opera singer
I'm the world, and said he had Travelled
around the earth with ladies i'm a
carriage drawn by 500 horses whose sta
bles were made of diamonds. lie was
willing 10 share Tie earth with another
patient after diviGng IL up AZ the equator.
Then lac intended "a divide up heaven sim
ilarly, and take Jtive i'm the lava Of We
suvius inasmuch as he was hrcproof. He
intended TO erect q statue thousand mill
ion yards in height, made OF pure dia-
mOnds. lie amused himself by shooting
down stars from the armament. and then
he was going 20 make new planets by con-
densing gases and inclOsinu them i'm n
crust. lie was always arranging for tele-
gFuphic aud other communication with
The moon and the stars, and was exceed
ingly anxious 90 see the pretty girls who
would come down 20 us from Venus and
Juno.
That doctors. like shpcmnkers. should
stick 10 their last was the opinion CON
veyed 10 DR. Hammond by one az his pa-
ticutF Before he left Dee began 10 sp6ak
~ staccatO way. think -I-shaT-
go-to--thc -- theatre - Co night-to-see
-BOOth-iu-Ilamlet " The doctor esked
MIN why be spoke ia that manner lie
replied: because -choose-to-do--
hs--l--choosc -- 90 - do-nud--that-is
why-l-spcak NJ I choose 10 sneak -
But, ~ sal the doctor, 'it lisa silly wov
~ talking "I-camc-to-y0u- for
nedicnl--ndvice--Gn not - fOr-a-les-
bOn-iu--cl-O-cu- ton. Tile EDocb
UfHw ~ the